Protecting boot for chair legs



t. 5, 1940- w. J. JOHNZSON PROTECTING BOOT FOR CHAIR LEGS Fi led Dec. 7, 193a III/I wrddoa ii? BYW V- w ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 15, 1940 PATENT OFFICE 2,217,754 PROTECTING BOOT FOR, CHAIR LE GS Walter J. ,Johnson,

Evanston, 111., assignor to Johnson Chair (30., Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Application December 7, 1938, Serial No. 244,429

2 Claims. (01. 45-137) This invention relates to a protecting boot for chair legs and while not limited thereto, is of especial use for the legs of swivel ofilce chairs and the like. It may, however, be applied to other forms of chairs or furniture as desired.

Furniture, especially that having spreading legs, is very susceptible. to becoming scarred or otherwise defaced and injured, as well as injuring and defacing other articles of furniture, wall and door trimmings and the like, and shoes, stockings and the like of the user of the chair, unless such legs are covered with something to prevent such scarring or injury. One of the objects of this invention is to provide for such legs a protective covering made of a. relatively soft material such as rubber or the like, so formed as to constitute a boot covering those parts of the legs which would most easily become scarred or injured by contact with other objects, such boot also protecting such other objects against becoming scarred or defaced by said legs.

Another object is the provision of such a boot that will snugly fit the chair leg or other article of furniture as to grip the same closely, neatly and eficiently, such boot being made of a material having such relative softness as to prevent the chair legs from scarring or injuring any adjacent furniture object, wall trimming, door trimming or the like, or becoming injured thereby or injured by any other extraneous projection or object which might come in contact therewith.

A further object is to provide such a boot that will receive the end portion of the chair leg or the like, and having an opening in its bottom wall to receive the stem of a caster so as not to interfere with the normal functions thereof, and also having embedded or molded therein a nail, tack or the like to be driven into the chair leg or the like to further hold the boot in place thereon.

My improved boot may be glued to the leg along the wings of the boot or throughout the entire inner surface of the boot or not, as desired.

My invention further resides in the combination, construction and arrangement of parts 11- lustrated in the accompanying drawing, and while I have shown therein a preferred embodi- 60 ment I wish it understoodthat the same is susceptible of modification and change without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Other objects, advantages and capabilities such as are inherent in the invention will later 55 more fully appear.

- The sharpened projection I I is driven into the wood of the chair leg I3 after In the.drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of a swivel oflice chair having fitted over each of the end portions of the legs a boot embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevationof the chair legs having my boot applied thereto, and

inset to be flush with the wood surface.

Fig. 7 is a transve se vertical sectionv on the line 'l-l of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary transverse longitudinal section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of one of my improved boots detached from the chair leg.

Referring in detail to the drawing, my new protecting boot comprises in general the pocket portion I having the sides 2 and 3, the top s, end 5, bottom 6 and top extension 1 formed with side cheeks 8 and 9. The bottom 6 is preferably formed with an tends the upper portion of a caster 0 when the chair is provided with a caster. If the chair, or other part to which my-boot is attached, is not provided with a caster the opening It may be omitted. The extension '8 is preferably provided with a tack, nail or other sharpened projection ll formed with a head lfithat'is molded into the material of the boot as shown in Figs. 3 and 9, or otherwise fastened thereto as desired. as seen in Fig. 3,

the boot is snugly positioned thereon. As will be understood, the shank l4 of the caster c (if a caster is used) will fit in the usual caster hole I5 in the 'leg as shown in Fig. 4.

The boot'will also, if desired, be formed with the upwardly inclined flange portion I6, which will be stretched or otherwise snugly fitted over the curved shoulder IT on the bottom of the leg. This further assists in holding the boot on the leg.

As shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the leg may be cut away sufiiciently to bring the outer surface of the boot fiush with the outer surface of the adjacent portion of the leg. In other words, the

opening in through which exview of the leg portion boot walls will be inset or inlaid into the wood (or other material the leg may be made of) of the leg so as to bring said outer surfaces flush with each other. The sired, be-fur'ther secured to the leg by glue, cement or other holding means and, if desired, such glue or other holding means may be applied throughout the entire inner surface of theboot.

It will be noted in the drawing that my improved boot is formed with a pocket to receive and encase the outer end portion of the leg, which pocket portion inconjunction with the top extension 1 will be snugly and grippingiy held onto the leg by virtue of the shape of the boot and the gripping tendency of the molding rubber of which the boot is preferably made. 1 preferably use molding rubber as it particularly and emciently adapts itself to the'purpose, and is of such nature that it inherently clings to the material of the leg. Also the shape of the side cheeks 8 and 9 is such that theyrather tenaciously cling to the sides and top tendency of the boot'to snugly cling to the material of the leg is further supplemented by the nail II which is driven into the wood of the leg after the boot is in position, and by the inclined flange I8 if the latter is used. The soft. nature of molding rubber is especially effective in preventing scars or injury to a desk or other pieces of furniture or trimming, and it at the same time prevents scarring or injury to th chair leg or other furniture portion to which it may be applied. While I have referred to and prefer molding rubber, I wish it understood that other material and other shapes for the boot may be used without departing from the spirit of my invention Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. A boot for protecting the projecting portions of the approximately horizontally extending legs of swivel chairs against damage by contact with a desk or other furniture as well as protect the desk or other furniture from becoming scarred or damaged by reason of such contact, comprising rubber walls adapted to fit over and cling like a glove to the outer end portion of each of the chair legs to snugly follow the contour of the projecting portion thereof, and including an end wall, side walls, a top wall and a bottom wall to side cheeks 8 and 9 may, if deof the leg. This inherent form a pocket adapted to'snugly fit over and conform to the end portion of the chair leg, the bottom wall having on its rear edge a flange to fit over and grip a similarly shaped surface on the chair leg to hold the boot onto the leg by reason of its elasticity, a rearwardly projecting extension on the top wall, and downwardly extending side cheeks on said extension adapted to grippingly cover a portion of the sides of the chair leg, and means adapted to secure said extension to the chair leg, said means comprising a nail or the like embedded in said extension and extended into the wood of the leg, with rubber or the like covering the head of the nail or the like to eliminate any exposed metal that might mar or scratch a desk, furniture or the like.

2. In combination with a swivel chair or the like having approximately horizontally extending legs, a boot for protecting the projecting end portions of said legs against damage by contact with a desk or other furniture and preventing the desk or other furniture from becoming scarred or damaged due to such contact, said boot comprising a hollow member of elastic material such as rubber or the like fitted over and resiliently gripping the chair leg with a glove-like grip to snugly conform to and follow the contour of the leg end portion, the chair leg having an enlarged outer end to provide a downwardly extending portion and a shoulder, the boot having an upwardly angularly extending portion tightly fitting against said shoulder and holding the boot in place, the boot in addition to said upwardly angularly exten g portion having an end, sides, top and bottom, the chair leg having a caster opening extending upwardly into the outer end portion thereof and said bottom of the boot having an opening in registry with said caster opening, said boot top having a rearward extension secured to the leg to prevent a user's leg from scarring the leg, downwardly extending side skirts cemented at their exposed edges to the leg to pre- 

